Welcome to Founders Week 2017

Week 17 is always a special one across the Aflac Nation. It's a week to give thanks to our founders for the incredible opportunity we have with this company. Thanks to your efforts in 2017, the future is brighter than ever. Congratulations to the top five quarter-to-date sales growth leaders:

Barry McPherson, CA-SC

Kevin Soria, IDS/ORE/MW

Robert Ferrone, MN

Scott Blackshear, FL-N

Chris Bialka, TX-S

Tennessee has back-to-back PACE Cup victories

PACE Week 16 was a record-breaker with more activity logged than any other PACE event in company history. Outstanding! The territory lead belonged to TVP Joe Garcia and the mighty North as they led the way with nearly 75,000 activities. Among market operations Tennessee held on to the top spot. Here are the top five MKDs in PACE activity:

Brent Goode, TN

Rick Whelan, FL-S

Adam Wichmann, TX-W

Beth Kimbrough, OH

Ethan Riffe, PA-W

Market Director Brent Goode and the coveted PACE Cup.

Improved enrollment planning with YouGotNet

Make sure your MAAs attend the “New OE Plan Training” webinar scheduled with their asset management analyst this week. Why? So they’re ready to use – and promote – the new open enrollment planning tool in YouGotNet. Already up and running in Advisory Council markets, the new tool will be live for the entire Aflac Nation the first week in May. Better than the old one-pager, the planning tool improves planning conversations between DSCs and associates because it models the consultative sales approach we know is successful.

Questions? Reach out to your asset management analyst.

Producing recruit metric adjustments

When opportunity knocks we answer – and the opportunity to get more TVPs and MKDs positioned to win just came calling. Recent analysis showed we could make reductions in the producing recruit metric and still hit our objectives. Reductions to your market’s target will be in RPM later this week. Watch for the updates and email Melissa Sievers if you have any questions.

Recruiting: Keep your canary singing

The 22 percent increase you pulled in Week 16 is music to everyone’s ears. I know we can carry this tune – and our positive recruiting trend – forward, week after week. Join me in a shoutout for Joe Garcia in the North and Rocky Cunningham in the Southeast for leading the pack at a territory level. Next, put your hands together for our QTD market-leaders as of Week 16:

Ethan Riffe, PA-W

Evan Gerson, IL-N

Tripp Amos,GA-S

Chris Hager, CA-LAS

Kevin Soria, IDS/ORE/MW

Dex Harris shares some iNSIGHT

GA-N Market Director Dex Harris participated in the train-the-trainer session in St. Louis last week, and reported back that the training team developed exceptional content for the iNSIGHTs conferences – now it’s up to market directors to kick off those meetings correctly. With the simple, turn-key style materials and prepared opening statement you’ll receive this week, there should be zero variability in how information is presented. Remember, developing a sustainment strategy that will drive this training through every level of your organization will be critical in the weeks and months ahead.

Get aligned and make your voice heard

“The purpose of the leadership council is to expose disconnects and drive alignment in every market. It’s time for our agents to become valued partners and consultants – not just another vendor.”- MO-W MKD Jeremy Frye

As NY-M/LI Market Director Trevor Fennell said, when all 63 markets align we’ll be a true force of change and innovation at Aflac HQ. Leadership council representatives will be contacting you and assigning you to peer-to-peer learning groups that’ll ensure you’re driving consultative selling practices, sharing leadership tips and getting best practices and processes in place. Make your voice heard.

Are you ready to dominate public sector sales?

Fill out the questionnaire you’ll receive this week and get ready to identify candidates for your public sector strike team. We’re launching a virtual training course and a special Q2 PACE for select veterans in your market to build the skills they’ll need to succeed in the public sector. These specialists should excel at consultative selling, be service oriented and hold strong standards of accountability. Keep your eye out for more information in the coming weeks.

BSCs are ready to take flight

Thirty-three new broker sales channel employees wrapped up their orientation last week in Atlanta and are ready to boost broker sales. Make sure they’ve been introduced to your sales swat team in your market. Here are the quarter to date MKD broker sales leaders:

Jeremy Congo, NM/TX-L

Sean Smith, NE

Barry McPherson, CA-SC

Rich Kunz, CA-BA

Robert Ferrone, MN

Every one of our top five leaders in weekly Everwell 3-99 adoption wrote more than 50 percent of their Week 16 business on the platform. Quite the milestone if you think back to where we were just a year ago. Congratulations to:

Dennis Hartin, FL-C, 55.3%

Terry Luczaj, SC, 53.8%

Chris Hardy, OK, 53.3%

Rich Kunz, CA-BA, 51.7%

Joe Klimek, TX-DFW, 51.4%

It's critical to use Everwell correctly

Please ensure that you make clear to everyone in your organization that writing paper applications and then entering the information on Everwell at a later date is fraudulent activity and will not be tolerated. An offline solution is in the works and we will update you as that solution is ready to roll out.

As I mentioned, Founders Week is a special week. So how do we give thanks to our incredible founders? We need a 5 percent increase this week to keep our momentum going. Here are some key numbers to think about: